Casino game with pay line multipliers

ABSTRACT

A poker machine apparatus has a pay line multiplier that is randomly selected for each active pay line. The pay line multiplier varies for each round of play. An extra wager may be required from the player to activate this feature during the play of a casino game. A player makes a wager to activate at least two pay lines to be played in the casino game. For each active pay line, a multiplier is randomly selected from a group of various multipliers and the selected multiplier is assigned to the activated pay line. The casino game is then played to achieve an outcome on each pay line. Each pay line that has a winning outcome has any associated award increased by the multiplier for that pay line.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 13/479,338,filed May 5, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,550,892, which is aContinuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 13/442,058, filed Apr. 9,2012, now pending, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No.11/923,221, filed Oct. 24, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,152,616. Thedisclosure of each of these parent applications is incorporated hereinin its entirety.

BACKGROUND

These inventions relate primarily to casino games, and more particularlyto casino games such as video poker and slot machines. The presentinventions use a randomly determined multiplier feature which is appliedto each pay line of the casino game.

There are numerous casino games that utilize pay lines which designatethe grouping of symbols that must form a winning combination in orderfor a player to receive a payout for his wager. One casino game thatuses multiple pay lines is multiple hand video poker. Many slot machinegames also use multiple pay lines.

Conventional video draw poker is a single player game in which theplayer does not play against a dealer or other players, but rathermerely tries to achieve the highest possible poker hand ranking.

One of the most common variations of video draw poker is Five Card Drawpoker. In general, in Five Card Draw poker, a player receives an initialhand of five cards dealt from a fifty-two card standard deck of playingcards. A standard deck of playing cards has four suits: Spades, Hearts,Diamonds and Clubs; and each suit has thirteen ranks: Deuce, Three,Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, inorder from lowest to highest.

The deck of playing cards is shuffled and an initial hand of five cardsis dealt to a player. Once the initial hand is dealt to the player, theplayer can discard none, one, a plurality, or all of the five cards ofthe initial hand. Each discarded card is replaced with another card fromthe remaining cards of the deck. After the replacement cards are dealtto the player's hand, the player then has a final hand and the fivecards of the final hand are evaluated to determine if there is a winningcombination. Poker hand rankings are generally used as the criteria fordetermining winning combinations.

The conventional winning poker hand rankings that are used in videopoker in order from highest to lowest category are: Royal Flush,Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of aKind, Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or better. Any hand having less thana Pair of Jacks or better is usually a losing hand. Within each pokerhand ranking category, hands are ranked according to the rank ofindividual cards, with an Ace being the highest card and a Deuce beingthe lowest card. There is no difference in poker hand ranking betweenthe four suits of cards.

A payout schedule or pay table is used to determine the amount awardedto the player for achieving a winning combination based on the amountwagered by the player.

Any suitable pay table can be used, and a typical pay table for a Jacksor Better Draw poker format return would be:

TABLE 1 JACKS OR BETTER DRAW POKER NUMBER OF COINS BET POKER HANDCATEGORY 1 2 3 4 5 ROYAL FLUSH 250 500 750 1000 4000 STRAIGHT FLUSH 50100 150 200 250 FOUR-OF-A-KIND 25 50 75 100 125 FULL HOUSE 9 18 27 36 45FLUSH 6 12 18 24 30 STRAIGHT 4 8 12 16 20 THREE-OF-A-KIND 3 6 9 12 15TWO PAIR 2 4 6 8 10 JACKS OR BETTER 1 2 3 4 5

These winning poker hand rankings are used in the Jacks or Better drawpoker format as well as many of the other draw poker formats. Most ofthe more recent modifications to video draw poker involve the use ofdifferent draw poker formats such as Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker,Double-Double Bonus Poker and even Triple Bonus Poker. Different drawpoker formats involve changes to the pay table and often involve usingdifferent poker hand rankings as winning hand combinations.

Other variations of draw poker exist which use jokers or wild cards,such as Deuces Wild poker and Jokers Wild poker. In Deuces Wild poker,any deuce in a player's hand functions as a wild card. Typically inJokers Wild poker, when one or more jokers are added to a fifty-two carddeck of cards, each joker also acts as a wild card.

In typical video draw poker games, a player receives five cards from avirtual standard deck of playing cards to form an initial player hand.The virtual deck of playing card replicates a traditional fifty-two carddeck of playing cards. The player is able to discard none, one, some orall of the cards and the replacement cards for the discarded cards aredrawn and displayed from the remaining cards of the virtual deck ofcards. In a five card draw poker game, a player selects a hold inputassociated with a particular card to signify that they would like tokeep that card. Any cards that are upheld are discarded. The discardedcards are replaced with cards from the remaining cards in the virtualdeck to form the final player hand. The final player hand is compared toa pay table and the gaming system provides awards for a winning finalhand based on the poker hand ranking of the player's final hand and theamount wagered.

Numerous variations of poker exist, including Five Card Draw poker, FiveCard Stud poker, Seven Card Stud poker, Hold 'Em poker (also calledTexas Hold 'Em poker), Omaha poker (also called Omaha Hold 'Em poker),and Pai-Gow poker. The variations in these games generally differ in themanner in which cards are dealt and in the manner and frequency in whichbets are placed. The number of cards dealt and the ability to draw orreplace cards depends on the particular variation of poker being played.Various criteria may also be used to determine the winning hand,including highest ranking hand, lowest ranking hand (Lo-Ball), and thosegames in which the high and low hands each win half of the pot(High-Low).

Many video poker gaming machines are provided with a menu so that theplayer can indicate his choice of the poker game format that the playerwishes to play and the player then makes his wager based on upon thatchoice of poker game format. Each poker format has its own pay tableassociated therewith.

Newer video poker gaming machines allow the player to play multiplehands of video poker at the same time. Each hand of a multiple hand gameof video poker is treated as a separate pay line. For example, U.S. Pat.No. 5,823,873 (Moody) (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein bythis reference) describes a video gaming machine and method in which theplayer may play multiple hands at the same time. The player makes awager for each separate hand to be played by the player. A first initialhand of five cards is dealt all face up. The player selects none, one, aplurality or all of the face up cards from the first hand as cards to beheld. The cards that are held are reused from the first hand into all ofthe other hands. Replacement cards for the non-selected cards are dealtinto the first hand so that the first hand has five cards. Additionalcards are also dealt to all of the other hands so that each hand is afinal five card hand. The poker hand ranking of each final five cardhand is determined. The player is then paid for any winning poker handsbased on a pay table and the amount of the player's wager.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,356 (Moody) (the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by this reference) also discloses and claims many variations ofmultiple hand video poker including multiple hands played at the sametime and multiple hands played seriatim. Five cards initial poker handsare disclosed as well as less than five card initial poker hands.Multiple initial hands in which all of the cards are dealt face up andwhich some of the cards are dealt face up and the other cards dealt facedown are also disclosed.

Another method of playing multiple hand video poker is described in U.S.Pat. No. 6,050,568 (Hachquet) (the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein). In this method, two or more identical starting hands aredisplayed to the player. The player has the option of holding anddiscarding from each of these hands independently. The player is notrequired to hold the same cards in each hand. After the player hasselected which cards to hold in each hand, replacement cards aredisplayed for the upheld cards and the poker hand ranking of each finalhand is determined. Winning poker hand combinations are paid inaccordance with a pay table and the amount wagered by the player.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,074 (Moody et al.), the disclosure of which isincorporated herein, also discloses a method of playing multiple handvideo poker in which each hand is played independently of the otherhands.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,521 to Sanduski, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein, discloses randomly applying a multiplier to a payline based on the value of a multiplier card. Sanduski discloses usingonly a single multiplier value for a single hand of video poker. Forexample, when a player achieves a Four-of-a-Kind, the payout for thiswinning combination is multiplied by the value of the kicker card in thepoker hand.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,247,092 to Jarvis et al., the disclosure of which isincorporated herein, discloses the use of one or more multiplier cardsadded to a conventional deck of playing cards. Whenever a multipliercard appears during the play of a video poker game, the payout for anywinning combination that is achieved is multiplier by the value of themultiplier card. This Jarvis feature has been commercialized in a gameknown as SUPER TIMES PAY which is marketed by IGT of Reno, Nev.

The Jarvis multiplier card feature has been applied to multiple handvideo poker. For example, in TRIPLE PLAY SUPER TIMES PAY which ismarketed by IGT of Reno, Nev., all pay lines are eligible for the samemultiplier value should a multiplier card appear in the initial deal ofthe starting hand.

Slot machines also have one or more pay lines and for each pay line thathas been activated by making a wager thereon, a player receives a payoutwhenever a winning symbol combination that appears on an active payline.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,378 to Moody, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein, discloses a multiple reel slot machine withmultiple pay lines. The player makes a wager for each pay line that theplayer wishes to have activated for a particular round of play. Themethods of the present invention may be practiced using the slot machinedisclosed in this '378 patent as well as other slot machines which havemultiple pay lines.

The present invention provides a method for applying separatemultipliers to each pay line thereby adding a new and exciting wageringand winning feature for the player.

SUMMARY

A pay line multiplier is randomly selected for each active pay line. Thepay line multiplier varies for each round of play. An extra wager may berequired from the player to activate this feature during the play of acasino game.

A player makes a wager to activate at least two pay lines to be playedin the casino game. For each active pay line, a multiplier is randomlyselected a multiplier from a group of various multipliers and theselected multiplier is assigned to the activated pay line.

The casino game is then played to achieve an outcome on each pay line.Each pay line that has a winning outcome has any associated awardincreased by the multiplier for that pay line.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 1 ofthe present invention showing a representative initial deal of the cardsof a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 2 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 1 ofthe present invention showing a representative display of the finalhands of a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 3 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 1 ofthe present invention showing another representative initial deal of thecards of a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 4 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 2 ofthe present invention showing a representative initial deal of the cardsof a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 5 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 2 ofthe present invention showing a representative display of the finalhands of a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 6 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 3 ofthe present invention showing a representative initial deal of the cardsof a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 7 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 3 ofthe present invention showing a representative display of the finalhands of a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 8 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 4 ofthe present invention showing a representative initial deal of the cardsof a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 9 shows a video poker machine configured to practice Version 4 ofthe present invention showing a representative display of the finalhands of a multiple hand poker game.

FIG. 10 shows a video poker machine having a double match multiplier.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to casino games such as video poker gamesand slot machines.

FIG. 1 shows generally at 10 a typical electronic video poker machinethat is configured to provide to the player the method of the presentinvention. A portion of the poker machine 10 includes a conventionalvideo screen display 20 upon which the play of the poker game is shown.

The poker machine 10 also includes a conventional currency/ticketacceptor 52 by which the player can insert currency or tickets to addcredits to a credit meter 22. It is also possible to provide aconventional coin head (not shown) to allow the player to add credits ormake wagers by using coins or gaming tokens.

As is also conventional in electronic video poker machines, the creditmeter 22 is provided to show the amount of credits that the player hasaccrued on the gaming machine 10—either by inserting coins, tokens,currency or tickets or from winning plays achieved by the player.Whenever the player makes a wager, the amount of the wager isdecremented from the credit meter 22. Whenever the player achieves awinning play during the play of the game, the amount of the winning playis incremented on the credit meter 22.

A conventional payout hopper may also be located on the interior of thegaming machine and is used to dispense coins or tokens to the playerinto a payout tray (not shown) when the player wishes to collect anywinning amounts the player has accrued. Other suitable and conventionalpayout mechanisms can be used, such as a ticket printer or othercashless payout devices.

A button panel 40 is also provided on the poker machine 10 and thebuttons mounted on the button panel 40 are used by the player to controlthe operation of the poker machine 10. Any suitable configuration of thebuttons on the button panel can be used and, alternatively, conventionaltouch screen technology can be used for any or all of the buttonsmounted on the button panel.

A typical button arrangement is shown on the button panel 40 in FIG. 1.A “BET ONE” button 42 is provided to allow the player to wager onecredit at a time. A “BET MAX” button 44 is provided to allow the playerto wager the maximum amount of credits permitted by the configuration ofthe gaming machine 10. Any number of credits can be set as the maximumamount that it is possible to wager on each hand and, typically, fivecredits will be the maximum number of credits for any particular hand.Alternatively, a “BET ONE” location 26 and a “BET MAX” location 28 canbe provided on the video screen 20 to allow the player to wager by usingconventional touch screen technology.

The button panel 40 also includes a “CASH OUT” button 41 by which theplayer can effect the cashing out of any credits accrued on the creditmeter 22. A touch screen “CASH OUT” location 21 may also be provided.

A conventional “DEAL/DRAW” button 46 is also provided on the buttonpanel 40 which is used by the player to activate the initial deal of thecards at the deal stage of the method of play or the dealing ofreplacement cards at the draw stage of the method of play as isappropriate. Similarly, a DEAL/DRAW location 27 can be provided on thevideo screen 20 to allow the player to effect either the deal step orthe draw step by using conventional touch screen technology.

The button panel 40 is also provided with five “CARD” buttons 48A, 48B,48C, 48D and 48E associated with each horizontal card location on thevideo screen display: card button 48A is associated with the left mostcard location, card button 48B is associated with the second from theleft card location, card button 48C is associated with the middle cardlocation, card button 48D is associated with the second from the rightcard location and card button 48E is associated with the right most cardlocation. Each card button is preferably aligned below the cardlocations so that the player can easily associate the appropriate cardbutton with the appropriate card location. These card locations 48 areused by the player to select which cards to hold during the draw step ofthe poker game. Alternatively, the card locations on the video screendisplay 20 can be touch screen activated to allow the play to selectwhich cards to hold by merely touching the card location on the videoscreen display 20.

A “BET ONE HAND” touch screen location 23 is provided on the videoscreen display 20 to allow the player to choose to play one hand ofvideo poker. Each time the player presses the “BET ONE HAND” touchscreen location 23 another hand of video poker is activated for thatround of play. A “BET ALL HANDS” touch screen location 24 is alsoprovided on the video screen display 20 to allow the play to activateall available hands of the multiple hand poker game with a single press.Associated buttons (not shown) may be provided on the button panel 40 toallow the player to bet one hand or to bet all hands.

The button panel 40 also includes a “BET MULTIPLIER” button 45 and anassociated “BET MULTIPLIER” touch screen location 25 can be provided onthe video screen display 20. This allows the player to activate themultiplier feature of the present invention during the play of the videopoker game, if the use of the multiplier feature is optional during theplay.

The video screen display 20 also has a “BET” location 32 that shows theamount of credits that have been wagered on a particular round of playand a “WIN” location 34 that shows the amount of credits won by theplayer on a particular round of play.

Version 1.

The method of Version 1 of the present invention will now be described.

After the player has inserted an appropriate amount of coins, tokens,currency or tickets to add a sufficient amount of credits on the creditdisplay meter 22, the player makes his initial wager. The player maypress the “BET ONE” button 42 one or more times to bet in singleincrements or the player may merely press the “BET MAX” button 44 andthe maximum number of credits are applied, for example, five creditswould be wagered. The player can also use the touch screen locations tomake his wager as described above.

As shown in FIG. 1, a player has made an eighteen credit wager shown inthe “BET” location 32. This activates three pay lines: five credits areallocated as the amount wagered on each pay line and the sixth credit isrequired for the multiplier feature on each pay line. In the preferredembodiment of the present invention, a player must make an extra wagerto be eligible for the multiplier feature. The amount of the extra wagerrelates to the frequency and amount of the multipliers applied to thevarious pay lines. Alternatively, no extra wager could be required forthe multiplier feature, but the pay table would have to be adjusted forthe increased payouts that would come from the multiplier feature.

A multiplier indicator 60 is provided on the video screen display 20. Ina preferred embodiment of the present invention, an illuminating effectcould randomly flash through the various multipliers show in themultiplier indicator 60 and wherever the illuminating effect stopped,that particular multiplier would be selected for an active pay line. Anyother suitable multiplier random selection device could be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, a 2× multiplier 61 has been randomly selected forHAND 71, a 6× multiplier 62 has been randomly selected for HAND 72 and a1× multiplier 63 has been randomly selected for HAND 73. The payouts forany winning card combinations that are achieved on each of these paylines would be increased by the indicated multiplier.

The poker game shown in FIG. 1 as an example is a three hand poker gameplayed in accordance with the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,873,823. The player has been dealt a first HAND 71 of the Ace ofSpades, Four of Hearts, Six of Clubs, Ace of Hearts and Nine ofDiamonds. The player has selected to hold the Ace of Spades and the Aceof Hearts and these two cards are duplicated into second HAND 72 andthird HAND 73.

As shown in FIG. 2, replacement cards for the discarded cards of firstHAND 71 are displayed and the final first HAND 71 has a poker handcombination of a Pair of Aces. Additional cards are displayed intosecond HAND 72 and the final second HAND 72 has a poker hand combinationof Four Aces. Additional cards are displayed into third HAND 73 and thefinal third HAND 73 has a poker hand combination of Three Aces.

In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a Jacks or Better draw poker gameformat is used. A suitable pay table for this format would be:

TABLE 1 DRAW POKER NUMBER OF COINS BET POKER HAND 1 2 3 4 5 ROYAL FLUSH250 500 750 1000 4000 STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 100 150 200 250 FOUR-OF-A-KIND25 50 75 100 125 FULL HOUSE 9 18 27 36 45 FLUSH 6 12 18 24 30 STRAIGHT 48 12 16 20 THREE-OF-A-KIND 3 6 9 12 15 TWO PAIR 2 4 6 8 10 JACKS ORBETTER 1 2 3 4 5

Using the pay table shown in Table 1, final HAND 71 is a winningcombination of Jacks or Better and the player would receive ten creditsas a payout based on the 2× multiplier 61. Final HAND 72 is a winningcombination of Four-of-a-Kind and the player would receive seven hundredfifty credits as a payout based on the 6× multiplier 62. Final HAND 73is a winning combination of Three-of-a-Kind and the player would receivefifteen credits as a payout based on the 1× multiplier 63.

While the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 uses a regular Jacks or Betterdraw poker format pay table, other pay tables have been developed forthe other variations of draw poker, such as Deuces Wild Poker, BonusPoker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Triple BonusPoker, Joker's Wild Poker or any of the myriad of video poker formatsthat have been developed. Each of these video poker formats uses variousarrangements of poker hand rankings as winning combinations and they usevarious payout amounts for the poker hand rankings. The amounts paid forthe various winning hand combinations in each of the video poker formatsare calculated to provide a certain theoretical game return based on themathematical probability of achieving the winning hand combinations andthe theoretical hold percentage that the casino wishes to offer to theplayers.

FIG. 3 shows an example of another deal that could occur in the methodof play of the present invention. The multiplier indicator 160 has arandomly rearranged order of the multipliers and a 1× multiplier 161 hasbeen randomly selected for first HAND 171, a 1× multiplier has also beenrandomly selected for second HAND 172 and a 3× multiplier has beenrandomly selected for third HAND 173. Using the same three hand formatdescribed above, the player has been dealt three Kings in the first HAND171 and the player has held these three Kings into the second HAND 172and the third HAND 173. Any winning card combinations achieved after thecard replacement step of the method would again have their respectivepayouts increased by the multiplier associated with each hand.

With regard to the following versions 2 through 4, the method of playapplies to poker card games with multiple hands which correspond tomultiple pay lines. The method uses a deck of playing cards. A pay tableis provided which contains winning outcomes and awards associated witheach winning outcome. A player makes a wager to activate at least afirst pay line and at least a second pay line to be played in the pokercard game. A first initial hand of cards is displayed face upcorresponding to the first pay line.

If the first initial hand comprises a predetermined arrangement ofcards, a multiplier is randomly selected from a group of variousmultipliers for each activated pay line and the selected multiplier isassigned to the activated pay line.

The player selects none, one or more of the face up cards from the firstinitial hand as cards to be held and the cards to be held, if any, arereused in a second initial hand corresponding to the second pay line.The cards that were not selected to be held are discarded from the firstinitial hand and replacement cards are displayed in the first initialhand for the discarded cards creating a first final hand. Additionalcards, if necessary, are displayed into the second initial hand creatinga second final hand,

Next it is determined whether the outcome on each final hand pay line isa winning outcome and the player is provided with an award from the paytable for each pay line that has a winning outcome and the award ismodified by the multiplier for that pay line.

Version 2.

The method of Version 2 of the present invention will now be described.In this version, the predetermined arrangement of cards in the firstinitial hand must have a poker hand ranking of a Pair of Jacks or Betteror higher to trigger the multiplier feature.

As shown in FIG. 4 in this example, a player has made a thirty creditwager shown in the “BET” location 32. This activates three pay lines:five credits are allocated as the amount wagered on each pay line andfive credits are required for the multiplier feature on each pay line.

A multiplier indicator 260 is provided on the video screen display 20.In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an illuminatingeffect could randomly flash through the various multipliers show in themultiplier indicator 60 and wherever the illuminating effect stopped,that particular multiplier would be selected for an active pay line.

Version 2 requires that the player achieve an initial starting handhaving a poker hand ranking of a Pair of Jacks or Better or higher inorder for the multiplier feature to be used in the play of the hand. Ifthe initial starting hand has a poker hand ranking of less than a Pairof Jacks or Better, then each activated pay line will have a multiplierof 1×.

The poker game shown in FIG. 4 as an example is a three hand poker gameplayed in accordance with the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,873,823. The player has been dealt an initial starting first HAND 271of the Ten of Hearts, Two of Hearts, King of Clubs, Queen of Clubs andQueen of Spades.

Since the initial starting hand 271 has a poker hand ranking of a Pairof Jacks or Better, the multiplier feature is used on the play of thishand.

The player has selected to hold the Queen of Clubs and the Queen ofSpades and these two cards are duplicated into second HAND 272 and thirdHAND 273.

The multiplier selection device is activated and a multiplier from thegroup of multipliers being used as shown at 260 is randomly selected andapplied to each hand that has been activated for a multiplier by theextra wager. As shown in this example in FIG. 4, first HAND 271 has a 2×multiplier, second HAND 272 has a 2× multiplier and third HAND 273 has a6× multiplier.

As shown in FIG. 5, replacement cards for the discarded cards of firstHAND 271 are displayed and the final first HAND 271 has a poker handranking of Three Queens. Additional cards are displayed into second HAND272 and the final second HAND 272 has a poker hand ranking of a Pair ofQueens. Additional cards are displayed into third HAND 273 and the finalthird HAND 273 has a poker hand ranking of a Pair of Queens.

In the example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a Double Double Bonus draw pokergame format is used. Various pay tables may be used for this DoubleDouble Bonus draw poker format. A suitable pay table for this format isshown in Table 2:

TABLE 2 DOUBLE DOUBLE BONUS DRAW POKER NUMBER OF COINS BET POKER HAND 12 3 4 5 ROYAL FLUSH 250 500 750 1000 4000 STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 100 150 200250 FOUR ACES WITH 400 800 1200 1600 2000 ANY 2, 3, 4 FOUR 2, 3, 4 WITH160 320 480 640 800 ANY 2, 3, 4 FOUR ACES 160 320 480 640 800 FOUR 2, 3,4 80 160 240 320 400 FOUR KINGS THRU FIVES 50 100 150 200 250 FULL HOUSE9 18 27 36 45 FLUSH 6 12 18 24 30 STRAIGHT 4 8 12 16 20 THREE-OF-A-KIND3 6 9 12 15 TWO PAIR 2 4 6 8 10 JACKS OR BETTER 1 2 3 4 5

Using the pay table shown in Table 2, final first HAND 271 is a winningcombination of Three-of-a-Kind and the player would receive thirtycredits as a payout based on the 2× multiplier 261. Final second HAND272 is a winning combination of a Pair Jacks or Better and the playerwould receive ten credits as a payout based on the 6× multiplier 262.Final third HAND 273 is a winning combination of a Pair of Jacks orBetter and the player would receive thirty credits as a payout based onthe 6× multiplier 263.

Version 3.

The method of Version 3 of the present invention will now be described.In this version, the predetermined arrangement of cards in the firstinitial hand must have a poker hand ranking a poker hand ranking of aPair of Twos, Threes, Fours, Five or Sixes or a Pair of Jacks or Betteror higher to trigger the multiplier feature.

As shown in FIG. 6 in this example, a player has made a thirty creditwager shown in the “BET” location 32. This activates three pay lines:five credits are allocated as the amount wagered on each pay line andfive credits are required for the multiplier feature on each pay line. Amultiplier indicator 360 is provided on the video screen display 20.Version 3 requires that the player achieve an initial starting handhaving a poker hand ranking of a Pair of Jacks or Better or higher or aPair of Twos through Sixes in order for the multiplier feature to beused in the play of the hand. If the initial starting hand has a pokerhand ranking of less than a Pair of Jacks or Better and does not have aPair of Twos through Sixes, then each activated pay line will have amultiplier of 1×.

The poker game shown in FIG. 6 as an example is a three hand poker gameplayed in accordance with the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,873,823. The player has been dealt an initial starting first HAND 371of the Three of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Three of Clubs, Jack of Heartsand Two of Clubs.

Since the initial starting hand 271 has a poker hand ranking of a Pairof Threes, the multiplier feature is used on the play of this hand. Themultiplier selection device is activated and first HAND 371 receives a2× multiplier 361, second HAND 372 receives a 2× multiplier 362 andthird HAND 373 receives a 1× multiplier 363.

As shown in FIG. 7, the player has selected to hold the Three of Heartsand the Three of Clubs and these two cards are duplicated into secondHAND 372 and third HAND 373.

As shown in FIG. 7, replacement cards for the discarded cards of firstHAND 271 are displayed and the final first HAND 371 has a poker handranking of less than Jacks or Better. Additional cards are displayedinto second HAND 372 and the final second HAND 372 has a poker handranking of less than Jacks of Better. Additional cards are displayedinto third HAND 373 and the final third HAND 373 has a poker handranking of Three-of-a-Kind.

In the example shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a Double Double Bonus draw pokergame format is used, such as the one shown in Table 2.

Using the pay table shown in Table 2, final first HAND 371 is a losingcombination and the player receives no payout. Final second HAND 372 isalso a losing combination and the player receives no payout. Final thirdHAND 373 is a winning combination of Three-of-a-Kind and the playerwould receive fifteen credits as a payout based on the 1× multiplier363.

Version 4.

The method of Version 4 of the present invention will now be described.In this version, the player must achieve an initial starting hand havinga poker hand ranking of any Pair or higher to trigger the multiplierfeature.

As shown in FIG. 8 in this example, a player has made a thirty creditwager shown in the “BET” location 32. This activates three pay lines:five credits are allocated as the amount wagered on each pay line andfive credits are required for the multiplier feature on each pay line. Amultiplier indicator 460 is provided on the video screen display 20.Version 4 requires that the player achieve an initial starting handhaving a poker hand ranking of any Pair or higher in order for themultiplier feature to be used in the play of the hand. If the initialstarting hand has a poker hand ranking of less than any Pair, then eachactivated pay line will have a multiplier of 1×.

The poker game shown in FIG. 8 as an example is a three hand poker gameplayed in accordance with the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,873,823. The player has been dealt an initial starting first HAND 471of the Eight of Diamonds, Eight of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, Three ofSpades and Ace of Clubs.

Since the initial starting hand 271 has a poker hand ranking of a Pairof Eights, the multiplier feature is used on the play of this hand. Themultiplier selection device is activated and first HAND 471 receives a2× multiplier 461, second HAND 472 receives a 2× multiplier 462 andthird HAND 473 receives a 1× multiplier 463.

As shown in FIG. 9, the player has selected to hold the Three of Heartsand the Three of Clubs and these two cards are duplicated into secondHAND 372 and third HAND 373.

As shown in FIG. 9, replacement cards for the discarded cards of firstHAND 471 are displayed and the final first HAND 471 has a poker handranking of less than Jacks or Better. Additional cards are displayedinto second HAND 472 and the final second HAND 472 has a poker handranking of less than Jacks of Better. Additional cards are displayedinto third HAND 473 and the final third HAND 473 has a poker handranking of less than Jacks of Better.

In the example shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a Double Double Bonus draw pokergame format is used, such as the one shown in Table 2.

Using the pay table shown in Table 2, final first HAND 371 is a losingcombination and the player receives no payout. Final second HAND 372 isalso a losing combination and the player receives no payout. Final thirdHAND 373 is also a losing combination and the player receives no payout.

Another variation of any of the versions discussed herein would doublethe multiplier whenever two multipliers of the same value occur duringthe play of a hand. For example, in FIG. 4, there are two 2× multipliersthat have been selected by the multiplier selection device. Applyingthis variation, each of these 2× multipliers would be increased to 4×multipliers as shown in FIG. 10 in which the first HAND 271 has a 4×multiplier 561 and the second HAND 272 has a 4× multiplier 562.

In a preferred embodiment of any of the versions discussed herein, aplayer must make an extra wager to be eligible for the multiplierfeature. The amount of the extra wager could also be more or less thanfive credits and relates to the frequency and amount of the multipliersapplied to the various pay lines. The use of an extra wager allows forhigher payouts when the multiplier feature is activated. Alternatively,no extra wager could be required for the multiplier feature, but the paytable would have to be adjusted for the increased payouts that wouldcome from the multiplier feature.

In all of the versions discussed herein, any other suitable multiplierrandom selection device could be used, such as a spinning wheel or aspinning reel. Depending on the multiplier random selection device beingused, a multiplier indicator may or may not be displayed on the videoscreen display 20. The multipliers may be any suitable group ofmultipliers based on the mathematics of the game. The group of variousmultipliers may include two or more multipliers in integer format. Thevarious integers may be weighted for selection with lower value integershaving a higher probability of being chosen and would be selected moreoften than the higher value multipliers. Any suitable method ofselecting a multiplier in a random manner may be used. It is alsopossible to use multipliers that have a non-integer value such as 2.5×.

Any of the version can be applied to any of the various video pokerformats discussed above.

The present invention can be applied to any type of poker game that hasmultiple pay lines.

The present invention can also be applied to stud poker games and slotmachine games or any other casino game that has multiple pay lines.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for providing a poker card game thatuses a virtual deck of playing cards, the poker card game havingmultiple pay lines, said apparatus comprising: at least one video screendisplay; at least one input device; and a computer configured with theat least one video screen display and the at least one input device to:a) provide a pay table which contains winning outcomes and awardsassociated with the winning outcomes; b) receive a wager from a playerto activate at least a first pay line and at least a second pay line tobe played in the poker card game; c) display a first initial hand ofcards face up corresponding to the first pay line; d) if the firstinitial hand includes a predetermined arrangement of cards, randomlyselect a multiplier from a group of various multipliers for eachactivated pay line and assign the selected multiplier to the activatedpay line, e) select none, one or more of the face up cards from thefirst initial hand as cards to be held; f) reuse the cards to be held,if any, in a second initial hand corresponding to the second pay line;g) discard from the first initial hand the cards that were not selectedto be held and displaying replacement cards in the first initial handfor the discarded cards creating a first final hand; h) displayadditional cards, if necessary, into the second initial hand creating asecond final hand; i) determine whether the outcome on each final handpay line is a winning outcome; and j) provide to the player one of theawards from the pay table for each pay line that has a winning outcome,the award is modified by any multiplier for that pay line.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 in which the player makes an additional wager to beeligible for the multiplier.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which thepredetermined arrangement of cards is a poker hand ranking of a Pair ofJacks or Better or higher.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which thepredetermined arrangement of cards is a poker hand ranking of a Pair ofTwos, Threes, Fours , Five or Sixes or a Pair of Jacks or Better orhigher.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the predeterminedarrangement of cards is a poker hand ranking of any Pair or higher. 6.The apparatus of claim 1 in which there are at least three pay lines.